Groups And Teams

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines a team as “a number of persons associated together in work or activity” (Merriam-Webster Online, 2007). A group however, is a partnership of two or more people who are “first, mutually dependent on one another to achieve common goals and second, interact regularly with one another to pursue those goals over a sustained period of time” (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2005).

Many people believe that a team is the same thing as a group. The main difference between them is while team members work together to achieve a common goal or purpose, they also hold themselves collectively accountable for the results of their work. In a group, the work unit is lead by a manager or department head who is accountable for the group’s performance accomplishments and results, but all members of the group contribute to the workload. A group may develop into a team when it commits to its members in the same way it commits to the common goal.

Many businesses incorporate teams into their structure to promote productivity in the workplace and in an effort to increase the quality of their output. Other benefits of using teams in the work setting include improved communication and processes, increased creativity and employee morale as well as higher quality (DeJanasz, Dowd, & Schneider, 2001). Because employees working together in teams combine their individual knowledge and skills, the team can achieve greater success and create more improved processes than one person working on an issue alone.

As teams develop, they will go through several stages while they work toward common goals. Bruce W. Tuckman, an educational psychologist, proposed the five-stage theory of Group Development in 1977. The five stages are called Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and Adjourning. While each stage will vary depending upon the members of the team as individuals and the task set to achieve, each stage can be easily identified.

Forming

In the forming stage, the members come together and are sometimes unsure what their role is going to be and they are hesitant about the steps they need to take to proceed towards accomplishing the team’s task. Sometimes the members are strangers and have never met before or they have only met in passing. This can cause some tension and prevent team members from feeling comfortable around their new teammates. It can also result in some lack of trust in each other. As the members begin to get to know each other and share what each expects to accomplish as a team, the tension begins to fade and a “sense of contentment sets in” (Stewart, Manz & Sims, 1999).

Storming

It is in the Storming stage where serious conflict can arise and member rebellion and/or procrastination can occur, thus causing the team to be less efficient, productive and possibly failing to accomplish their goal altogether. When employees are required to work in teams, they must interact with each other on a consistent and often constant basis. This can magnify the problems that are bound to arise and the conflicts that are inevitable. Some conflicts will be the result of a clash in team member personalities. In reality, some people just cannot work together, whatever the atmosphere or common character traits they possess. Other sources of conflict may be goal-oriented, in which case the desire of one team member can only be achieved if another team member fails at attaining his or her own objective. This can often lead to disagreements and hard feelings between team members and could result in the team having to disband.

Not all types of conflict are bad for teams. Some forms of conflict can actually be beneficial. Task conflict, also called cognitive conflict, is a direct result of disagreements between team members regarding the tasks that need to be done and what the best way to do them is (University of Phoenix, 2004). These issues seldom become personal and can often be resolved with significant evaluation and the development of a creative solution. Members can express individual ideas and opinions based on collaborative knowledge and a compromise can be reached that can have a positive end result and incorporate many benefits to the team as a whole and to its members as individuals. Teams still must be careful that there is not too much task conflict within their team because high levels can be detrimental and prevent team members from cooperating with each other. This results in less than favorable performance as a team. When task conflicts are successfully resolved and compromises made, many team members say that they feel more connected to each other as a team and have better working relationships afterward.

Norming

The storming stage is usually followed by the norming stage. “Norming is the phase of development in which team members come together and begin to feel a sense of belonging.” (Stewart, Manz & Sims, 1999). Team members will begin to feel unified in purpose and share a profound